Safe and vault alarm devices



Sept. 25 1962 F. HARRY SAFE. AND VAULT ALARM DEVICES Filed May 26, 1958 INVENTOR FRANK HARRY BY Mm United States Patent Cfilice 3,056,125 Patented Sept. 25, 1962 3,056,125 SAFE AND VAULT ALARM DEVICES Frank Harry, 322 E. Lorraine Ave., Baltimore, Md. Filed May 26, 1958, Ser. No. 737,613 6 Claims. (Cl. 340-274) This invention relates generally to burglar alarm devices, and more particularly it pertains to safe and vault alarms.

A great deal of damage is done by would-be thieves or burglars in their attempts to break into safes. Of course, many alarms have been devised to warn of intruders to a premises and to the vicinity of the safe. Other expedients have been resorted to to prevent the breaking into of safes and vaults, such as release of tear gas or actuation of alarms when the safe door is breached. Thieves have been very clever in circumventing premises alarms. Also, by the time a door alarm or break-in warning is sounded or tear gas is released the damage is done, despite the accomplished objective of frightening away the intruder.

Combination locks have numbers which are set for releasing the lock. It is a primary object of this invention to provide a further useful employment of these numbers for setting an alarm when locking the safe.

Another object of this invention is to provide an alarm which will sound when a safe combination knob is rotated. E

To provide a disturbance sensitive safe, is yet another object of this invention.

To provide an alarm arrangement which is actuated by vibration, heat, or tampering of the safe or vault, is still another object of this invention.

Still other objects of this invention are to provide safe and vault alarm arrangements which are economical to manufacture and install, and which are eflicient and reliable in operational use.

These and other objects and advantages of this inven tion will become more readily apparent and understood from the accompanying specification and single sheet of drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view, partly broken away, of a combination lock for safes embodying principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is an electrical schematic diagram of the improved safe alarm;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the preferred embodiment of the present invention installed in a safe;

FIG. 4 depicts an alternate cam which may be used with the invention; and

FIG. 5 an eccentric pin type of actuating means.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3 of the drawings, a conventional safe or vault 12 is equipped with a combination lock having a numbered dial 62. Dial 62 is provided with an integral shaft 64, by which tumblers. 66 are rotated. When the combination dial numbers are properly sequenced, the final rotation of shaft 64 engages the pawl end of a lever 18 by means of cam 14 withdrawing a bolt 20. The door of the safe or vault 12 may then be unlatched.

To lock the safe or vault 12, the dial 62 is spun around a few revolutions to reset bolt 20 and randomly distributing tumblers 66. In the present invention, a night number is thereafter set on dial 62. This night number corresponds to the engagement of a raised portion 22 of cam 14 with an actuator 24 of a microswitoh 26, as best seen in FIGS. 1, 2, and 3.

A closed electrical circuit 56 is connected through microswitch 26 leading serially through a vibration contact 32, a rate-of-rise heat detector 34, a mercury contact 36, and the coil of a sensitive fast-acting relay to a common circuit 60.

A battery 28 of dry cells is connected to one terminal of a shunt lock switch 30, while the other terminal of shunt lock switch 30 completes the series circuit back to microswitch 26 as well as dividing into a branch ringing circuit 58. This ring circuit connects to a normally closed contact 40 of relay 38 and to a normally open contact 44 of a latching relay 42.

The coil of relay 42 is connected in parallel with an electric bell 46 and one side of this parallel circuit joins to the common circuit 60. The other side of the parallel circuit involving relay coil 42 and bell 46 connects to contact 41 of relay 38.

In one embodiment of this invention, the above described components mounted on a safe 12 is shown in FIG. 3. The microswitch 26 is necessarily mounted on or adjacent to the combination lock 10 in this case on the inside of the door of the safe or vault 12. The shunt lock 30 is advantageously placed with only the keyhole thereof exposed. The rate of rise detector 34 is best placed on the ceiling of the safe chamber and the vibration contact 32 on one inside wall of the safe 12 as shown. Bell 46, together with the remaining components within the dotted lines of FIG. 2, is placed in a tamper-resistant box 48 mounted in a concealed position beneath the safe. An aperture 50, communicating between the box 48 and the chamber of the safe 12, is provided for electrical connections.

In actual operation, when the night number is set on dial 62 as previously described, contacts are closed thereby in microswitch 26. If the operator now turns his key locking shunt lock 30, an electric current flows from bat tery 28 into both circuits 56 and 58 for a moment and through contacts 40 and 41 to bell 46. Relay 42 is slowacting compared to the response of bell 46 and a single stroke of the bell issues indicating to the operator that battery 28 is in good condition. Relay immediately pulls open contacts 38. This relay 38 is energized through series circuit 56.

Any tampering rotation thereafter of the dial 62 will open microswitch 26, or any striking of the safe will open vibration contacts 32. The heat of a cutting torch or the like will cause rate-of-rise detector 34 to open. Finally, any tilting of the safe as a whole will open mercury contacts 36. The above-named disturbances acting singly or in combination, will cause relay 38 to release and close its contacts 40 and 41. Relay 42 is consequently energized and locks itself closed through its contacts 44 and 45. Bell 46 now continuously sounds as an alarm.

To disconnect the alarm, the key to shunt lock 30 must be operated.

To operate the actuator 24 of microswitch 26, the cam 14 may alternatively be constructed with a notch 52 as illustrated in FIG. 4. The microswitch required would then be of the closed contact type. In other words, the electrical circuit would close when actuator 24 extended into the notch 52 corresponding to the night number desired.

Still another alternative of the alarm device would involve the provision of a pin 54 on cam 14 as shown in FIG. 5. This eccentrically mounted pin 54 on cam 14 would then lbest cooperate with a microswitch actuator of the well-known spring finger type.

Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present invention are possible in light of the above teachings. It is, therefore, to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims, the invention may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.

What is claimed:

1. In a combination lock safe alarm, a combination lock having a dial provided with radially arranged numbers and an integral shaft secured to said dial, means including spaced tumblers positioned by said dial and shaft,

cams means movable by said dial shaft in unitary turns relationship and having an elevated element thereon and a depression therein, a movable bolt pivotally connected to said cam means and engageable in said depression in said cam means for throwing said bolt when said tumblers are in a predetermined position, and a protective alarm system including an electrical circuit having a closed lock-out warning means in said circuit and means including a switch for completing said electrical circuit for said lockout warning means, said switch being operable to lockout by said cam means at a single dial position defined by one of said radially arranged numbers being positioned to correspond to said elevated element on said cam means and to lockin at all other positions defined by said radially arranged numbers.

2. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, and additionally heat sensitive means associated with said lockout warning means for actuating said lock-out warning means upon changes in temperature.

3. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, and additionally means for sensing the disturbances of said safe to actuate said lock-out warning means.

4. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, and additionally means for sensing the attitude of said safe to actuate said lock-out Warning means.

5. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, and means for rendering said lock-out Warning means inoperative.

6. An arrangement as recited in claim 1, and means including a second electrical circuit for continuously operating said lock-out warning means after disturbances have ceased.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,536,933 Rose i May 5, 1925 2,436,470 Fleming Feb. 24, 1948 2,521,005 Gundlach Sept. 5, 1950 2,655,807 Bateman Oct. 20, 1953 2,874,240 Ricks Feb. 17, 1959 2,923,928 McLaughlin Feb. 2, 1960 2,955,282 Boyle Oct. 4, 1960 

